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Britain, Tunisia Remember Massacre Victims


The British flag flies at half-staff above Portcullis House beside the landmark Elizabeth Tower, more commonly known as Big Ben, in central London in tribute to the victims of a jihadist massacre in Tunisia, July 3, 2015.
The British flag flies at half-staff above Portcullis House beside the landmark Elizabeth Tower, more commonly known as Big Ben, in central London in tribute to the victims of a jihadist massacre in Tunisia, July 3, 2015.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister David Cameron led a moment of silence Friday for the 30 British victims of last week's massacre of tourists on a beach in Tunisia.

The queen and her husband, Prince Philip, stood quietly during a visit to the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Cameron was in Witney, north of London.

Play was delayed at Wimbledon to pay tribute to the victims. Crowds stood still at football stadiums, students observed silence in their schools, and flags all over the UK were lowered to half-staff.

Britain's Royal Air Force is bringing the bodies home.

In Tunisia on Friday, there was a heavy police presence and security was extremely tight at the beach resort in Sousse where Prime Minister Habib Essid led a moment of silence at the site of the terrorist attack.

Essid said he was "deeply sorry." He said the Britons and other foreign victims "were our guests. They came to spend their vacation with us, but what happened is a horror, unacceptable."

Thirty-eight people were gunned down, including vacationers from Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Portugal and Russia.

Essid also told the BBC that police took too long to react to the shootings, saying they had been "blocked everywhere." But he did not say what was blocking the police.

Some reports said it took more than a half hour for police to get to the beach, track down the gunman and kill him.

Tunisian authorities have identified him as Saif Rezgui. They said they thought he was the only one who carried out the attack, but eight suspects who may have been involved are in custody.

The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility. The militant group also said it was behind the shootings at the Bardo museum in Tunis in March, killing 21 people.

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